In Between
by Teefa and Co
Summary: Namco X Capcom it's a mega crossover so I put it here.  The night after he joins the party, Judas muses on his past.  An attempt at filling in a large plot hole left from Prologue 2.


Just a quick note…the way I'm going with names for this story. For the characters, I'm going with their English names because A) Stan and Lion are pronounced like Stahn and Leon when going by the Japanese pronunciation B) I'm more comfy with those names and C) Rutee's last name (Kartret vs. Katrea) isn't really brought up as a part of the story. As for Eye of God vs. Eye of Atamoni, I'll go with the Japanese there because they mention it a whole boatload of times in the game.

**In Between**

Judas sat at the edge of the team's camp, sighing at what he'd gotten himself into. They'd just managed to defeat Neibros and escape the remnants of the Infernal Village, only to have themselves begin marching towards the Tower of Druaga. It was just one thing after another with this group of otherworldly misfits.

'It's hard to believe that a bunch of fools from the five worlds, as well as sometime in the Material World's future, are able to accomplish so much. Perhaps joining up with them will help me to redeem myself for my foolish actions regarding the Eye of God.'

Looking around at his sleeping comrades, his eyes fell upon Rutee, the Lens Huntress who traveled with Stahn and him prior to his mistake. The girl who he continued to push away and prevent her from forming an attachment towards him. The lost orphan child whose past he carried alongside him. His only sister…

'I'm sorry, Neesan,' the young boy thought, 'I wish I didn't have to remain hidden like this.'

Judas thought back to years before the tragic error with the Eye of God. He had been born Emilio Katrea, the first and only son of Hugo Gilchrist and Chris Katrea, and younger brother to a fiery toddler named Rutee. However, when Emilio was only a year old, his mother had been murdered mysteriously, and his sister vanished on the same night. Growing up, he'd always blamed his father, who he knew to be cold, calculating and distant. Emilio was given command of the Swordian Chaltier, and trained from an early age to be a cold-blooded killer.

To prevent any attachment between himself and those who weren't coming back, Hugo forcibly changed his son's name to Leon Magnus. Around the same time, he hired a young woman named Marian, just nine year's Leon's senior, to be a maid at the mansion and look after the boy. Hugo hoped to make them form a bond, just so he would have emotional leverage later on that could keep his son from betraying him. It worked even better than Hugo could ever have dreamed; Leon began to think of her not as a mother or sister, but as someone he could fall in love with. Eventually, the situation was ripe for the man to take advantage of.

The Eye of God had been unsealed from the Abyss of Time around the same time as Druaga, Zouna and the other evils locked away by the heroes of the past. Taking advantage of the situation, and his position in government, Hugo ordered a search to keep it from the wrong hands. Learning that Rutee and Stahn, both Swordian Masters as well, were both in prison due to one of Rutee's stunts, he sent the three to seek it out and bring it back. No one, not Rutee, not Stahn, not the others in the royal court who heard Hugo's suggestions, could figure out that it was all a ploy to secure the Eye where he could easily take it for himself.

Once the Eye of God was sealed within Seinegald Kingdom, Hugo made his move. He'd kidnapped Marian and locked her away somewhere, then ordered Leon to steal the Eye during the night. Knowing the person he cared for most of all was in danger, Leon complied without question.

But neither Hugo nor Leon could foresee that Stahn and Rutee would come after them. Believing his son to be nothing more than a disposable pawn, Hugo left him to fight the others, knowing that whether he won or lost the fight it would buy enough time to drown the three of them in the waters below the underground cavern.

Luckily, Stahn and Rutee had managed to wash aboard the Flying Dragon, Draconis, and were able to fly to safety. However, Leon himself was too wounded to swim for even a little while, nor did he wash up anywhere that would offer him protection. After losing his own Swordian in the rapids, the youth succumbed to the sweet embrace of death…

…only to be awoken not too long after by Black Valkyrie. She offered Leon a chance to live again if only he became her servant. At first, he wanted to tell her to take a hike; he was much happier dead than in his hell-hole of an existence. However, the woman revealed to him that she'd offed Hugo and stole the Eye of God for herself. Realizing that he could perhaps do something if he took her up on her offer, Leon allowed himself to be revived, as well as putting on the Judas costume he now wore.

But Black Valkyrie was smart; she had ways to assure he wouldn't betray her to either destroy or seal away the Eye of God. He was bound to her, and would never be able to leave as long as she held it over him until Valkyrie, his captor's eternal opposite, used the Golden Seed to break the tie. However, he'd stayed with her until realizing she'd already sold off the Eye of God to Zouna, then joined with his sister and her friends to protect the world. Even though they accepted him, sometimes Judas still wanted to punish himself over the foolish decisions he'd made in the past.

The only consolation Judas had was that Marian was safe. He didn't know if Hugo let her go in a rare moment of kindness after the boy's death, or Black Valkyrie had freed her so he wouldn't reject her offer on grounds that she'd harmed Marian. Nor did it matter how it happened; to Judas, knowing that she was alive and well made him feel a whole lot better.

"Marian…could you forgive me?" he asked out loud, "I followed Hugo in order to protect you, yet all that happened was I made the situation worse and it took something else to set you free. Maybe, if I thought more like Stahn or Rutee, I'd have avoided the situation altogether."

The boy's thoughts zoomed back to the Demon Lord Zouna, who Black Valkyrie had sold the Eye of God to in return for troops. She'd told him that Hugo had been working for Zouna; his evil had somehow seeped out of the Abyss of Time to contact that man, perhaps even control his mind and body. Judas simply assumed it was some relic, seeing as Hugo's hobby long ago had been archeology.

"I'll bet the idiot tried to excavate Zouna's pyramid…and something he brought home contained enough of the Demon Lord's power to put them in contact," Judas muttered.

Thinking about it deeper, he had to assume Black Valkyrie was pretty smart. She'd waited for Zouna, barely out of the Abyss of Time and possibly still weak, to steal the Eye of God via a minion. Then, she took out the human puppet and took the Eye for herself, thus forcing the still recovering Demon Lord to make a deal to get his toy back. And, of course, keeping Judas busy so he wouldn't think she was plotting to give back the Eye for a price and giving him false hope that he could retrieve it himself.

However, Judas refused to let those failures deter him. Stahn and Rutee were right…despite his loner attitude, he had friends who would do anything to help him out. This time, he was going to make things right and do his part to stop the mess he'd helped to create.

'For my friends who believed in me,' he thought, 'And for Marian, the girl I love. I will fight until either this nightmare ends or I'm dragged back across the River Styx to Hell!'

Looking back at the two who wished to befriend him, he noticed Rutee was shivering from the Infernal World's cold night air. Judas shook his head; he always wondered why she wore so little clothing in the first place. However, seeing his sister shaking like that struck a chord of sympathy within his heart, an emotion he thought he no longer possessed.

Quietly, the youth rose from his position and took off his cape. He walked over to where Rutee was sleeping, being careful not to rouse her; the last thing Judas wanted was for Rutee to see him actually being nice to her. Then, he lay the cloak across her back, and snuck away; he knew he could get it back before she woke since he was dead and didn't require sleep like his sister and the other humans.

"Goodnight…Neesan…I'm happy that I've met you," the young man whispered as he pretended to go to sleep.

However, Judas was unaware that he was being watched the whole time. From a small hill overlooking the camp, Lady Valkyrie was standing watch. Though simply keeping guard over the camp, knowing that her divine powers prevented her from needing a lot of sleep, she'd begun to understand more about the young warrior by watching him that night.

'Black Valkyrie…she can bind souls that have especially strong emotions: rage, hatred, sorrow and even love. This boy has been affected by tragedies throughout his short life, ones that have caused him to push others away. However, I can tell that despite whatever separated them, he truly cares for the girl he calls "Sister." Whether or not he tells her the truth is up to him. But between her and this girl named Marian, I know Judas will do all in his power to protect those that he loves. Though my shadow may use people's emotions to control them, she has no idea of how truly strong a person can become when those feelings are brought out. Especially love and friendship…this journey has taught me that those two emotions are the strongest of them all.'

- - - -

**Teefa's Last Words…**

Well, this came about because of the plotholes found within Namco x Capcom. Though I felt most of the characters' individual plots were either completed or, especially among characters who are in several games, given enough information to set up another story. However, in Prologue 2 they name-drop the names of both Leon and Rutee's father and the person Leon betrays everyone to protect.

Here's a basic run-through for those of you who never played ToD…beware of spoilers…

_Hugo found a Swordian that contained the soul of Miktran (Kronos in the English version), the ancient king who first commanded the Sky Cities (Aeropolis)during the ancient wars. He took control of Hugo's mind and apparently caused him to kill his own wife (though that story wasn't in the game, it was mentioned in the Drama CDs relating to Leon's past). However, before losing it completely, Hugo managed to send Rutee away to an orphanage, but failed to do the same for Emilio…later changing the boy's name to Leon and hiring Marian to be his companion. _

_Though debatable whether he falls in love with her or just sees her as a mother or sister figure (I tend to go for the former due to his saying he'd kill his parents to protect her in the PSX version, his mentioning her in his last words in both the PSX and PS2 versions, the level of crying he does for her in the Drama CDs that I can't translate but it sounds real emotional and his entering the heroes' fight over Best Girlfriend in Tales of Fandom Gaiden), he ends up helping Hugo when Marian is held hostage. Leon never does find out that his father was only possessed, as the issue doesn't come up in front of the party until much later on, when they defeat Hugo and he tells the truth to his daughter just before he passes on._

I wanted to explain more about what could have happened to the name dropped characters, as well as tie it into the Destiny story as best as possible. And heck, I couldn't miss a chance to have Judas showing concern for his sister, since both the ToD Drama CDs and a few skits in ToD2 show that he does care about her, despite his attitude towards the contrary.


End file.
